President-elect Donald Trump has styled himself a master dealmaker who can leverage his warm relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine, cool tensions between the world’s biggest nuclear powers and realign global politics. But that can-do image is at odds with the two leaders’ records and the new geopolitical reality. Trump and Putin failed to cut deals on everything from arms control to Ukraine during his first term, and the gulf between...

There’s been a goodly amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth in my corner of the world about some of President-elect Donald Trump’s recently announced appointments. Particular dismay has attended those of Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) to the position of national security advisor and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) to the State Department. Both men have voiced hawkish—sometimes very hawkish—sentiments in the past, and the collective feeling among those who feel the United States is overexposed...

President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks keep getting more outlandish, which may be part of the point. Attorney general? Rep. Matt Gaetz, the right-wing provocateur who is being investigated by the House Ethics Committee for allegations of sexual misconduct. Secretary of defense? Pete Hegseth, a weekend Fox News host who served in the Army National Guard. Director of national intelligence? Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman who has expressed...

Staunchly libertarian Argentinian President Javier Milei’s economic plans are proving enormously successful, as the country’s inflation plunged to 2.7% in October, the lowest level in three years. Milei was elected roughly one year ago, but the measures he has taken have revivified the once-crippled Argentinian economy, where inflation dropped in October to 2.7% after registering at 3.5% in October. Milei had promised to lower inflation to less than 3% before the end of 2024. “...

The boss of Tesla and the social media site X, Elon Musk, suggested last month at Donald Trump’s rally in New York City that it would be possible to cut “at least $2 trillion” from US government spending by eradicating “waste”. Musk has now been appointed to co-head a new Department of Government Efficiency by the incoming US president, giving him an opportunity to try to put his plans into action. In the most recent fiscal year (from October 2023 to September 2024) the US...

The Onion, the satirical news company that repeatedly spoofed conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, has won the bankruptcy auction for control over his media empire — most notably InfoWars, the far-right, conspiracy-minded website that served as Jones' primary online platform. Jones announced the sale on X Thursday morning. "I just got word 15 minutes ago that my lawyers and folks met with the U.S. trustee over our bankruptcy this morning and they said they are shutting us...

President-elect Donald Trump announced Thursday that he would nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for secretary of Health and Human Services. “I am thrilled to announce Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health,” the president-elect...

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy predicted that President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Matt Gaetz to be attorney general would be rejected by the Republican Senate next year. “Gaetz won’t get confirmed, everybody knows that,” McCarthy said in an interview with Bloomberg Television at the Barclays Asia Forum in Singapore on Thursday. Gaetz, a Florida congressman who resigned from the House hours after Trump announced that he would nominate him to run the Justice...

President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday that he will nominate vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of the Health and Human Services Department. If the Senate approves Kennedy, the former independent presidential candidate will lead a sprawling department responsible for the huge Medicare and Medicaid health coverage programs, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease...

President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a former independent presidential candidate who has a history of spreading conspiracy theories, including about vaccines — to oversee the Department of Health and Human Services. "For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health," Trump said in a statement on Truth Social. "The Safety...